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Donkey Kong upset Leon in one of the contest's most surprising veteran-versus-veteran results, punishing an overwhelming expert lean toward Resident Evil. The writeup treats the match as clean evidence of Nintendo's rise and Leon's weakness.

Leon comfortably beat Dragonborn and looked strong enough to justify confidence in a deep run. Dragonborn's large recovery over the day is treated as a trend quirk rather than a meaningful threat.

Squirtle beat Cloud outright in one of the contest's coolest Noble Nine upsets, surviving Cloud's overnight recovery and pulling away again late. The writeup emphasizes that Cloud's broader Final Fantasy VII decline made the impossible-looking result suddenly believable.

LFF: The writeup says Leon's overlapping PlayStation-oriented support hurt Cloud and played an important role in opening the door for Squirtle's upset.

Leon beat Gordon and Shadow in a low-turnout match whose trends repeatedly hinted at drama without ever producing a real comeback. The writeup suspects overlap between Leon and Gordon but leaves the explanation uncertain.

Leon won a badly drawn same-series match that effectively denied Wesker a fair first-round opportunity. Even under severe overlap, Wesker still beat Oliver for second in the Expert Challenge ordering.

SFF: The writeup explicitly says Wesker was heavily SFFed by fellow Resident Evil entrant Leon, leaving Wesker far weaker than his standalone strength.

Ryu won clearly, but Leon resisted far better than the disastrous sprite led people to expect and even held up well during his preferred daytime period. The writeup leaves open whether a fairer picture could have made the match significantly closer.

Pic: The writeup says Leon's ugly Resident Evil: Gaiden sprite hurt his chances and suggests the matchup might have been different with more even pictures.

Leon handled Sackboy without much difficulty, but the writeup thought Leon still looked slightly off compared with expectations. That muted performance ended most remaining hype for him upsetting the Ryu-Dante winner.

Vault Boy performed much better than the writeup expected and is defended as a legitimate Fallout representative rather than a joke entrant. Leon's unusually weak-looking win is treated as further evidence that his strength behaves strangely within the Resident Evil cast.

Kirby continued his unexpected run by taking first, while Dante beat Master Chief in the meaningful fight for the other advancing position. The writeup remembers the match as a fun clash of very different contest identities.

Dante and Leon advanced in the same order their prior meetings suggested, despite a brief burst of early excitement. Riku and Hogger never developed the upset or bandwagon threat some had imagined.

Leon and Riku advanced in the expected order, with none of the feared choke or upset scenarios materializing. The writeup treats it as another largely forgettable first-round result.

Pikachu produced one of the contest's biggest shocks by taking first over a field of Capcom characters. The writeup treats the result as a major turning point in Pokémon's growing contest reputation.

LFF: The writeup says the three Capcom entrants divided overlapping support, creating the opening that allowed outside entrant Pikachu to beat them all.

Leon won comfortably while Pikachu capitalized on the divided Square field to advance again. The writeup presents Tidus and Vivi as holding each other back and turning Pikachu's favorable draw into another survival.

LFF: The writeup says Vivi and Tidus split Square support badly enough that neither could catch Pikachu, allowing the outside Pokémon entrant to take the second advancing spot.

Leon and Vivi took the two advancing spots in almost exactly the straightforward order expected. The writeup repeatedly calls the match boring and finds little meaning beyond setting up Vivi's coming encounter with Pikachu and Tidus.

Bowser beat Leon, but Leon performed much better than the old projections suggested. Combined with Kirby's earlier showing, the result made the writeup question how legitimate their inflated prior-year statistical reputations had been.

Mega Man won comfortably, but Leon performed much better than older Resident Evil comparisons suggested. The writeup treats Leon's showing as evidence that previous statistics had badly understated the series.

Leon extended Gordon Freeman's famous losing streak, though Gordon once again performed better than a supposedly hopeless underdog should. The writeup turns the recurring GFNW joke into the main story of another Freeman defeat.